Alvan Romero, CPA CFE CFF was appointed as the Director
of the Tax Fraud Investigations Division (TFID) in February 2003. His charge
has been to lead change and create a new tax fraud investigations enforcement
arm for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD). Since its
creation, the division has investigated violations of the criminal statutes
relative
to the New Mexico Tax Administration Act, as well as other related financial
crimes, as they impact New Mexico state taxes. TFID’s primary mission is
support the overall mission of TRD by encouraging the taxpaying public to pay
their fair share of taxes and have all taxpayers achieve voluntary compliance
with State of New Mexico tax laws.
Recognizing that there had to be changes to the way the
State did business in enforcing tax laws, Alvan went to work immediately and
crafted legislative initiatives that ultimately were passed by the New Mexico
legislature and signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson on April 4, 2005.
Some of the more important pieces of legislation that become law with the
Governor’s signature; TFID became a permanent TRD Division by statute, the
criminal statute of limitations for NM tax crimes was extended from three years
to five years, the Secretary was given the power to employ commissioned Law
Enforcement Officers for TFID, the Secretary was given the power to issue
subpoenas for the purpose of investigating possible criminal violations of the
New Mexico state revenue laws and; TRD’s authority was expanded to allow the
investigation of possible fraud or other crimes that could result in taxes due
to the state.
In October 2005 Alvan was tasked to lead additional
change in TRD, by creating and implementing two new bureaus within TFID; the
Internal Audit Bureau and the Internal Investigations Bureau. The
Internal Audit Bureau promotes the efficient use of Departmental assets,
assures legal compliance, prevents fraud, waste or abuse of TRD assets, and
ensures compliance with applicable Federal and State laws, rules, regulations
and TRD policies and procedures. Internal Audit also provides management
advisory services to the Department. The Internal Investigations Bureau
promotes honesty and accountability within TRD through timely independent
administrative and/or criminal internal investigations of alleged fraud or
wrongdoing .
To date, TFID has achieved a 100% Successful
Prosecution Rate for tax cases presented for prosecution. TFID strives to have
a balanced tax fraud investigative program. Tax cases come from different
geographic areas of the State and have come from several major tax
programs. Those prosecuted have worked in various occupations and/or
industries. TFID has identified tax fraud schemes impacting several areas of
tax law non-compliance (e.g. refund mills, tax resisters, limited liability
schemes and residency issues, etc.).
In its relatively short existence TFID has already
achieved the reputation as “the premier financial investigative organization in
the State.” TFID’s staff is highly trained, experienced and many are certified
as Certified Public Accountants and/or Certified Fraud Examiners.
To learn more about the responsibilities and mission of
each Bureau, click on each Bureau link.
Tax Fraud Investigations Bureau (TFIB)
Forensic Audit Bureau (FAB)
Internal Audit Bureau (IAB)
Internal Investigations Bureau (IIB)
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Alvan Romero, Director of Tax Fraud Investigations Division
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